Story+2008-04-27+Charlotte,+NC

“Good evening, Charlotte (crowd cheers) this is for our brother, Dan (crowd cheers)…”
 * 27.04.08 Charlotte, NC, before the video tribute to Danny**

“Is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers) is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 27.04.08 Charlotte, NC, intro to “Radio Nowhere”**

“Good evening, Charlotte (crowd cheers)…thank you so much, thanks for coming out tonight (crowd cheers) we wanna thank you for all your prayers and condolences for Danny, we appreciate that (crowd cheers) so we’ve been digging back in the box the past four or five nights…gonna put the Professor to the test now [Roy played accordion on this song this night]…Danny of course was, uh, when he was young, he won, won the Ted Mack Amateur Hour on the accordion…and his mama sewed him up a good lamé jacket and I think he won and they sent him off to Switzerland where, I guess, the idea was you were gonna come from the States and show them how it was really done over there (chuckles) but uh…so Danny and the accordion are always, uh, always inter-mixed and uh…really Danny was, it was Danny and Vini that kind of invited me into their band, Mad Dog Lopez, when, uh, when me and Danny was eighteen (crowd cheers) and, with the exception of Steve, who I met at sixteen and haven’t been able to get rid of since (laughs from the crowd) or he hasn’t been able to get, he hasn’t been able to get rid of me really, that’s what…Danny was a long, long, long-standing member here so I’m gonna miss him a lot…alright…Danny was the, uh…he was really, well, him and Mad Dog, they were the unruly citizens of the E Street Band for a long…I could get into some stories but (encouragement from the crowd)(chuckles) I’ll just tell, I’ll just tell one…I kind of told this at his funeral the other day, Danny had a huge marijuana plant and he left it on the front seat of his car in a tow-away zone (laughs from the crowd) so they came and they towed his car away and so, you know, it’s a puzzlement, you know, what do you, what do you…so he comes over, he says “Bruce, I got it, I got it, I got it, I’m gonna go down there and tell them that the car was stolen” (laughs from the crowd) I said “I don’t know, I’m not so sure” (laughs from the crowd) “No, no, it’ll be great,” goes down to tell them the car’s stolen and they take him straight to jail (laughs from the crowd) that’s a short one (chuckles) (laughs from the crowd) but they all ended up the same (laughs from the crowd) all stories ended up the same way…my favourite, my favourite phone call from Danny was always “Bruce, come quick!” (laughs from the crowd) but uh…anyway, this is for our old pal and brother (crowd cheers)(the intro starts) turn up that accordion…”
 * 27.04.08 Charlotte, NC, intro to “Wild Billy’s Circus Story”**

“Good evening, Charlotte (crowd cheers) nothing could be finer (crowd cheers) how we doing over there? Sister, sister…how we doing up there (crowd cheers) timber! (crowd cheers)(?)(crowd cheers)...alright, alright…this is a song called ”Livin’ in the Future” but it’s about what’s happening now…how along with all the things that we love about where we come from and the place we were born in…we’ve had to add to the American picture over the past eight years things like rendition and illegal wiretapping…rolling-back of civil liberties, no Habeas Corpus, the right to defend yourself against charges in court – these are all things that were fundamental American rights and maybe because of the color of your skin or your circumstance or your religion, you may feel these things don’t have a big impact on your life but they’re all an attack on our Constitution, which means they’re an attack on our selves as Americans…so, uh…this is a song about sleeping through changes that when I was a kid, people always told you that only, that only happens someplace else so…but the mighty E Street Band is here tonight to do something about it (crowd cheers) we’re gonna sing about it…that’s right (chuckles) we are gonna sing about it…I can tell they’re shaking in their shoes…see what happens, here’s to the end of eight years of bad, bad magic – Max, help me!...”
 * 27.04.08 Charlotte, NC, intro to “Livin’ in the Future”**

“Alright, what do we got here…I’ve been working hard for this…”I like you better than Hannah Montana” (crowd cheers) my aspirations have been realized…they have been completely realized, we can go home now…this is for my little sister, alright, kid… (…)[The little girl who had the sign sings the “sha la las”] You’re good (the girl keeps singing) sing it one more time (the girl keeps singing) you’re real good (the girl continues)…she could sing…”
 * 27.04.08 Charlotte, NC, intro to “Darlington County”**

“This is for all Carolina girls (crowd cheers) let me hear you Southern girls (crowd cheers) let me hear those Southern girls (crowd cheers) let me hear those Southern girls (crowd cheers) alright…”
 * 27.04.08 Charlotte, NC, intro to “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”**

“Thank you, Charlotte (crowd cheers) thank you so much (crowd cheers) we wanna thank everybody for coming out tonight, thank you for coming out (crowd cheers) it’s good for us down here, man, thank you (crowd cheers) oh, we got a couple of friends in the hall tonight, we got the Second Harvest Foodbank of Metrolina, Second Harvest Foodbank of Metrolina are here in your area, helping the struggling citizens, in Carolina they strive to eliminate hunger in sixteen area counties and last year they distributed over 17 million pounds of food to local children and the elderly and the working poor (crowd cheers) as you know, because the economy’s going south, there’s a lot of people out there that need a little extra help, falling on hard times, please help out the Second Harvest Foodbank of Metrolina if you can on your way out…we also have the People of Faith against the Death Penalty and wherever you stand on that issue, stop by their booth, you get some information and find out how they’re working down here – that’s the People of Faith against the Death Penalty and the Second Harvest Foodbank of Metrolina, thank you so much (crowd cheers)…”
 * 27.04.08 Charlotte, NC, intro to “Thunder Road”**

“Thank you for coming out (crowd cheers) remember the Second Harvest Foodbank, folks against the death penalty, thanks for a wonderful night (crowd cheers)… (…) Garry W. Tallent (crowd cheers) Little Steven (crowd cheers) from the Sessions Band, cousin Frank Bruno (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano from the Sessions Band (crowd cheers) Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) and you wish you could be like him but you can’t: the one, the only, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons (crowd cheers) Charlotte! (crowd cheers) Charlotte! (crowd cheers) Charlotte! (crowd cheers) Charlotte! (crowd cheers) you’ve just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, earth-shocking, booty-shaking, love-making, history-making, Viagra-taking, legendary (crowd: “E Street Band”)…”
 * 27.04.08 Charlotte, NC, intro to “American Land”**

//Compiled by Johanna Pirttijärvi//